<BLOCKQUOTE>Welcome to Five+, a simple but very addictive game. You play offline
but can compete with other players from all over the world by posting
your scores to the Five+ website.<P>
It is <B>highly recommended</B> that you switch windows to <B>high or true color</B> while playing this game. It runs with 256 colors, but the graphics look flat, the game will be slower and you will probably see the screen flashing from time to time.<P>
The main objective of the game is scoring points which are indicated
in the LCD in the upper left corner. The board occupies the biggest part
in the game window. Differently colored balls are spread over the board<P>
<CENTER><IMG SRC="images/balls.jpg" ALT="ball colors" WIDTH=282 HEIGHT=42 BORDER=0>(the balls look slightly different when playing Five+ with only 256 colors.)<P></CENTER>
You score points by aligning five or more balls of the same color
horizontally, vertically or diagonally.<BR>
To move a ball select it with a left-click, then release the mouse
button and click on the destination field. A selected ball has a white
Usually, a ball will take the shortest path to it's destination
field (making horizontal and vertical, but not diagonal moves).á There
are situations that do not allow certain moves, these are indicated by a
short sound effect.<P>
You <B>cannot</B> make this move:<CENTER><IMG SRC="images/nomove.jpg" ALT="impossible move" WIDTH=76 HEIGHT=131 BORDER=0 ></CENTER><P>
But you can do this:<CENTER><IMG SRC="images/move.jpg" ALT="possible move" WIDTH=90 HEIGHT=115 BORDER=0 ></CENTER><BR>
Complete rows raise your <A HREF="#Scores">score</A> and free up the board by disappearing.
Three new balls appear on the board after every move that
does not result in a completed row. The position of the new balls is
random, as is the color. The next colors can be seen in theá upper right
preview window. The game is over when the board is full.
<P>
<P>
<H2>Extra Balls:</H2>
The joker ball: This is how it looks at 16-bit colors or more: <IMG SRC="images/joker.jpg" ALT="joker" WIDTH=40 HEIGHT=40 BORDER=0 ALIGN="MIDDLE"> And this is how it looks in the 256-color mode: <IMG SRC="images/jokerlo.jpg" WIDTH=40 HEIGHT=40 BORDER=0 align="middle"><BR>
You can use the joker ball as any color.
<P>
The dynamite bar: <IMG SRC="images/dynamite.jpg" ALT="dynamite" WIDTH=40 HEIGHT=40 BORDER=0 ALIGN="MIDDLE"><BR>
Like the joker ball, it can be used as any color to build a row,
but,á when completing a row, all the balls of the same color disappear
from the board too. However, you only get the score for the row you
dissolved.<P>
<H2>The Game Modes</H2>
When Regular Game Mode is activated (default setting) you get more Extra balls and the number of new
balls is determined by the number of balls already on the board.<P>
<TABLE BORDER=3 WIDTH=300 HEIGHT=75>
<TR>
<TD WIDTH=60%><CENTER>Board full by</CENTER></TD>
<TD WIDTH=20%><CENTER><60%</CENTER></TD>
<TD WIDTH=20%><CENTER>61-99%</CENTER></TD>
</TR>
<TR>
<TD><CENTER>Number of balls</CENTER></TD>
<TD><CENTER>3</CENTER></TD>
<TD><CENTER>2</CENTER></TD>
</TR>
</TABLE><P>
<P>
I know, the game would be too easy if these were the only features, so I added another one:<BR>
At 50 points, 1 extra ball is added. At 100 points 2 extra balls appear, at 150
3 extra balls and so on. At 1000 points you would have to survive an extra
drop of 20 balls. This way the game becomes gradually harder when you get
better. However, these balls do not appear immediately, but are queued until your next move that does not complete a row.
<P>
<P>
<H2><A NAME="Scores">Score Table</A></H2>
<TABLE BORDER=3 HEIGHT=75 CELLPADDING=12>
<TR>
<TD>Number of balls in a row</TD>
<TD WIDTH=10%>5</TD>
<TD WIDTH=10%>6</TD>
<TD WIDTH=10%>7</TD>
<TD WIDTH=10%>8</TD>
<TD WIDTH=10%>9</TD>
</TR>
<TR>
<TD>Number of points awarded</TD>
<TD>3</TD>
<TD>5</TD>
<TD>8</TD>
<TD>12</TD>
<TD ALIGN="CENTER" COLSPAN=1 ROWSPAN=1>17</TD>
</TR>
</TABLE>
<BR>
For diagonal rows you are awarded a bonus of 1 ball.
Five+ comes with two graphic libraries by default: Colored balls for true color and 256-color modes. You can also download other graphic and sound libraries
from the game's website. Please Klick on "Settings" | "Load Additional Graphics" to acess this feature.
